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Therman
Human male, born LY 853, in Plist. Died 903. Husband of Maeve, father of Ginger Protestant. Bishop of Plist (893-902). First Protestant Arch-bishop (902-903). Therman was well liked by pretty much everyone who knew him, as he was a very friendly person. Growing up, he had any number of casual friends, but his two best friends were a girl named Maeve, and a boy named Harlan (both about Therman's age). At age 25, Therman and Harlan both realized they were in love with Maeve, but she ultimately realized she was in love with Therman. This caused Harlan to move to Monab, as he found being around his old friends unbearably painful. However, he later met a woman there named Saskia, with whom he fell in love, and married. Some time after that, Harlan reconciled with Therman and Maeve (who had themselves married in 879, a few months after Harlan moved away). In 886, at the age of 33, Therman and Maeve had a daughter, whom they named Ginger. Therman was well known as having always believed that God meant for people to be happy, and never to impede the happiness of others, if one could possibly help it. This belief made him popular in his local church, where he first began preaching at age 22. He became the senior spirit-talker in his church at age 32, when he was promoted to vice-bishop. It was that year that he made his first Pilgrimage to Monab, and saw his old friend Harlan for the first time in almost seven years, though they had been corresponding by mail for a few years. (It was also then that he first met Harlan's wife.) In 893, at age 40, Therman became bishop of Plist. In 898, The Plan was revealed for the first time to spirit-talkers from villages other than Monab, during that year's Pilgrimage. Therman was apprehensive about the Plan, and over the next few years, he was among those who tried to convince Arch-bishop Talak, Bishop Kizin of Monab, and the other Planners, to abandon the idea, to no avail. He believed that the Plan would end up leading to a greater degree of misery than happiness, though he also believed that the majority of those who supported the Plan truly did have what they believed to be the best interests of The Land and its people at heart. He also believed that they believed they were doing God's will, though Therman disagreed. After four years of trying to reason with the Planners (both through correspondence and in person at the annual Pilgrimage), he finally realized there was no choice but to enter into open opposition, bringing his message of dissent beyond the Order, to the people of the Land. It was with great sorrow that he founded the Protestant Movement, in Su'yet of 902. The Movement, which soon garnered a good number of members both from within The Order and from the general public, was at first meant to be essentially secular in nature, in spite of how many spirit-talkers were involved. However, it soon came to be seen as a new religious denomination, and Therman became the first Protestant Arch-bishop. (He named Virginia his successor as Protestant bishop of Plist, while a vice-bishop named Violet succeeded him as Orthodox bishop.) Therman's use of the Arch-bishop title is known to have infuriated Talak, who believed there could only be one Arch-bishop on the Land at any one time. The seven-year implementation of the Plan was known as the Coming of the Order, though that name is also applied to the war in which the Plan ultimately culminated, in 903. Protestant armies were raised in Plist, Triscot, Tanq, and Jump Village, beginning in the first few months of the year, while a navy was organized in Shanty. The Order, of course, had organized its own armies and navies two years earlier, in anticipation of this dissent. In Su'gin, Therman attended the Pilgrimage as usual, even though Talak had excommunicated him the previous year, when he had assumed the role of Protestant Arch-bishop. None of the other Protestant spirit-talkers attended that year, though only the leaders of the Movement had been excommunicated. Partly they didn't attend because they respected that it was no longer their place to do so, but partly it was for fear that it would have given the Order the chance to capture or kill them all, and deal a devastating blow to the Movement before the war had even begun. In fact, Therman's allies tried to convince him not to go, either, but he was determined to make one final attempt to prevail upon the Order's reason, in the hopes of avoiding war. His efforts failed, although an agreement was made that under no circumstances would the Protestant armies ever invade Monab. Therman said that in spite of their tragic difference of opinion, he and his followers still held the village to be sacred ground. He left after a single week, allowing the delegation to get on with its business (which was assumed to be mostly unrelated to the impending war). It should be noted that while the Order had been responsible for setting in motion the raising of armies to stand against the Protestants, they had no direct control over the military. The first battle of the war was in Shipsister, beginning on 20 Su'gin. The war officially ended on 29 Aut'yet, after not much more than five months. However, Therman would not live to see that day; he and many of his allies were killed on 22 Su'yet, just over two months into the war, during the Battle of Plist. He was survived by his wife and daughter. See also *List of Arch-bishops *Polyamory Category:People